Uppama (Spiced Cream of Wheat)

This recipe has been staring at me from the pages of 660 Curries for years. I kept telling myself that I'd try it... sometime, but I never quite managed it.

I'd never tried cream of wheat before, but I've heard jokes about its awfulness as a breakfast porridge. Those attitudes made me somewhat reluctant to give it a go. And then, on top of that, I'm supposed to add all of these spices and vegetables?! I wasn't convinced that would be a winning combo.

However, Iyer has once again proved me wrong! This was great! TF actually said it was a favourite for her. And, while I don't think it rose to quite that level for me, I did enjoy it a great deal.

I appreciate that this dish makes a relatively quick and easy substrate that actually incorporates a few veggies. Not a lot to be sure, but at least it's something!

---

Uppama

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/4 c. raw cashews
• 1 Tbsp. skinned split black lentils (mapte beans/urad dal)
• 6 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies, stems removed
• 2 c. frozen green peas
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 c. water
• 12 fresh or frozen curry leaves
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 4 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies, halved lengthwise
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 c. non-instant cream of wheat (sooji)

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
3. Add the cashews, lentils, and dried chilies and stir-fry until the chilies blacken (1-2 minutes).
4. Add the peas and turmeric and stir to coat.
5. Add the water and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the curry leaves, salt, fresh chilies, and cilantro.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in cream of wheat.
8. Cover and cook until the grains swell up (~5 minutes).
9. Fluff with a fork and serve.

We had a big crêpe buffet for brunch this morning. I had lots of different fillings available, but I felt like some sort of savoury sauce was in order. I was also thinking that some sautéed mushrooms would be good. So I went looking for recipes for mushroom sauce and found this one. It's a great sauce! Everyone loved it.

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Slightly adapted from Havoc in the Kitchen

Ingredients

• 5g dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 c. hot water
• 450g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1/8 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies
• 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning¹
• 1/2 c. cream cheese

Directions

1. Pour the hot water over the dried mushrooms and set aside to soak for 15-30 minutes.
2. Rinse the cremini mushrooms well, trim, and slice.
3. Add the sliced mushrooms and a splash of the porcini soaking water to a large pan and cook, covered, over medium heat until mushrooms release their juices.
4. Uncover and continue cooking until most of the water has evaporated.
5. Add the butter, oil, onion, and garlic and cook for another 5-8 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, drain the porcinis and reserve the liquid.
7. Chop the porcinis and add them to the pan along with the salt, smoked paprika, Kashmiri chilies, and herbs.
8. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, then add the porcini soaking water (strained to remove any grit if necessary) along with the cream cheese.
9. Cook, stirring, until cheese has melted and sauce thickens slightly.

---

¹ I used up all of my Italian seasoning a few months ago and I don't use it often enough to really justify keeping it on hand these days, so I just threw in a mix of herbs to approximate it.

We had TM over for a big crêpe buffet this morning. I put out tonnes of different toppings and fillings and then just made a giant stack of cr&ecric;pes and let everyone assemble their own.

I have a few good crêpe recipes already, but I wanted to be able to tick off the one from the Breakfast Bible, so I used that. I've included both the batter recipe and a list of the various toppings and fillings below. I've a few extra things in the list that weren't part of my spread yesterday. Those items are marked with an asterisk.

Crêpe Buffet

Adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Crêpes

• 2 c. milk
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted

Sweet Toppings/Fillings

• jam
• marmalade
• almond butter (and/or other nut butters)
• Nutella
• Greek yogurt
• whipped cream
• ricotta
• blackberries (and/or other fresh berries)
• nectarine, thinly sliced
• apple, thinly sliced
• pear, thinly sliced
• banana*, sliced
• maple syrup

Savoury Toppings/Fillings

• baby spinach
• green onion, sliced
• tomato, thinly sliced
• pickles
• red onion*, thinly sliced
• smoked salmon*
• capers*
• ham
• bacon
• smoked turkey
• sour cream*
• cream cheese*
• cheddar
• gruyère
• brie
• scrambled egg
• salsa*
• mushroom sauce
• Roman mustard

Directions

1. Combine the milk, flour, salt, and eggs in a blender and purée until mixed.
2. With blender running, drizzle in the melted butter.
3. Transfer to fridge and chill for at least an hour and up to 24 hours.
4. When ready, cook your crêpes by your preferred method. I like to pour ~1/4 of batter into a hot tawa and then quickly lift the pan up and tilt it to get the batter spread as thinly and evenly as possible over the bottom. Cook until just barely browned, flip, and allow to just barely brown on the other side.
5. Serve crêpes with toppings and fillings of your choice.

In the Breakfast Bible, there is a section dedicated to pancakes, waffles, and crêpes. McMillan gives three basic recipes for each (usually plain, whole wheat, and gluten-free) and then provides suggested combinations of mix-ins with a separate list of suggested combinations of toppings. This allows you to mix-and-match your breakfast concoctions.

I debated whether I wanted to write those recipes up the same way. Providing the lists of mix-ins at the bottom or variants as separate recipes included in the same post. In the end though, I decided that I liked the idea of picking a set of mix-ins, pairing it with a set of toppings, selecting a base, and then writing each of those up as their own post.

For these chocolate-strawberry pancakes, I used the whole wheat pancake batter as my foundation and then added in some chopped strawberries and dark chocolate. We then topped them with a combination of more strawberries, maple syrup, whipped cream, and shaved dark chocolate.

Chocolate-Strawberry Pancakes

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 2 c. buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 120g dark chocolate, 90g chopped, 30g shaved
• 450g strawberries, 120g chopped, 330g quartered
• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 2 Tbsp. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• maple syrup, to taste

Directions

1. Combine the flours, oats, sugar, and salt.
2. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
3. Beat the eggs with the buttermilk.
4. Drizzle the butter into the buttermilk mixture, whisking to blend.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
6. Mix in the chopped chocolate and chopped strawberries.
7. Preheat a griddle or large pan over medium heat and grease as necessary.
8. Pour some batter into the pan. (Use ~1/4 c. for smallish pancakes or 1/2 c. for large ones.)
9. Cook until sides start to look dry, then flip and cook until nicely browned on both sides and cooked through. Repeat with remaining batter.
10. Meanwhile, beat the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla extract until stiff.
11. When the pancakes are done, dish them up and top with the quartered strawberries, maple syrup, whipped cream, and shaved chocolate.

Palak Urad Dal (Spinach and Split Black Lentil Curry)

I've been in a bit of a meal planning rut lately. And, as so often happens when I'm struggling to plan and execute meals, I turned to our trusty copy of 660 Curries for comfort and inspiration.

With the help of some frozen spinach, I was able to make this simple dal entirely from ingredients we already had on hand. It didn't take too much thought or effort. And the inclusion of both legumes and leafy greens means that it's reasonably nutritionally complete as well.

I managed to make a basic tomato biryani and a quick papad and yogurt curry to accompany it and that made for a very nice dinner. The dal itself was not a stand-out flavour-wise, but it did at least give us something to hang the rest of the meal off of.

Palak Urad Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split black lentils (mapte beans/urad dal)
• 4 c. water
• 450g chopped spinach
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• 4 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies, stems removed
• 2-3 slices fresh ginger (5cm x 2cm x 3mm)
• 2 Tbsp. ghee¹
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Rinse the lentils well.
2. Drain and add the 4 c. of water to the lentils.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Discard and foam that forms on the surface of the water, then add the spinach and turmeric.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender (20-25 minutes).
6. Meanwhile, add the fenugreek seeds, garlic, chilies, and ginger to a molcajete and grind into a slightly gritty paste.
7. Melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
8. Add the cumin seeds and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
9. Add the paste from the molcajete and cook until browned (~2 minutes).
10. When the lentils are cooked, add the fried paste mixture to the dal along with the cilantro and salt and simmer, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.

---

¹ If you need to make this curry vegan, try swapping out the ghee for oil. Personally, I would probably default to either coconut or mustard oil, but a neutral option like canola, corn, or peanut would also work. ^Back

Tamatar Biryani (Tomato Biryani)

I keep skipping over this simple biryani because it isn't very nutritionally complete on its own. It's basically just rice and tomatoes, so it really needs to be served with some other curries to round out the meal. Luckily, I was feeling up for making a couple other curries today, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to finally check this one off.

I tried to do it in the InstantPot as it seemed like it should work well and make life a little easier. Unfortunately, every time the pot tried to get up to pressure, it'd give a "burn" notice and I'd have to stop it, scrape up all the stuck on bits that were starting to burn on the bottom, add a bit more liquid, and start again. Next time I'll just do it on the stovetop and hope that that works better.

Tamatar Biryani

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. white basmati rice¹
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1/4 tsp. whole cloves
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 2 cinnamon sticks (~7cm long)
• 2 blades mace
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 1 tsp. ginger paste
• 4-5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2-3 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies, halved lengthwise
• 1 small (~400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse the rice, drain, then cover with fresh water and let stand at room temperature for ~30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
3. Add the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and mace and sizzle for 30-60 seconds.
4. Add the onion and stir-fry for 5-7 minutes.
5. Add the ginger, garlic, and chilies and cook for another minute or so.
6. Add the tomatoes, salt, and turmeric and simmer, uncovered, for ~5 minutes.
7. Drain the rice and add it, tossing to coat.
8. Add the water, stir once or twice, and bring to a boil.
9. Cook (without stirring) until water has evaporated from the surface and craters appear in the rice (5-8 minutes).
10. Stir once, cover, and reduce heat to low.
11. Cook on low for another 8-10 minutes.
12. Turn off the heat and allow the rice to sit on the hot burner, still covered and undisturbed, for another 10 minutes.
13. Uncover, fluff with a fork, sprinkle with cilantro, and serve.

---

¹ I actually think this would be really nice with brown basmati, but, of course, that would require making adjustments to the liquid quantities and cooking times. Which is doable, I just don't have the wherewithal to figured out the changes right now. Something for next time perhaps... ^Back

Dhingri Josh (Mushroom Curry)

Mushrooms were on sale this week, so I decided to give this delicious-sounding mushroom curry a try. It looked and smelled absolutely delicious as it was cooking. TF and I were both stoked to try it.

Sadly, I think the black cumin and black cardamom were a bit overpowering for us. It was still a good curry, but it came out much more dark and bitter than I ideally would have liked. Drizzling a bit of sonth on top did help balance out the flavours, but I think I'd like it better with a bit less of the dark stuff in next time. The recipe below reflects this.

Dhingri Josh

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. mustard oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black cumin seeds
• 2 black cardamom pods
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 cinnamon sticks (~7cm long)
• 2 dried red Thai, arbol, or cayenne chilies
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 small (~400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. water, divided
• 225g cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 tsp. Punjabi garam masala
• 1 c. chopped fresh chives

Directoins

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the cumin, black cumin, cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon, and whole dried chilies and sizzle for 15-30 seconds.
3. Add the onion and stir-fry for 5 minutes.
4. Add the ginger paste and garlic paste and stir-fry for another 30-60 seconds.
5. Add the tomatoes, ground chilies, and salt.
6. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has been cooked off (~10 minutes).
7. Add 1/2 c. of the water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has been absorbed/cooked off again (~10 more minutes).
8. Add the mushrooms and the remaining 1/2 c. water and cover, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender (~10 minutes again).
9. Remove from heat and stir in the garam masala and chives.

We're all out of cottage cheese and I haven't had a chance to make any more bread yet, so I was at a bit of a loss as to what to make for breakfast.

Luckily we still had some sour cream left in the fridge and I'd gotten a small package of smoked salmon on sale last week. And with the dried chives in the pantry and the neverending supply of eggs from the chickens, that gave me everything I needed to make these simple but special-feeling scrambled eggs.

Smoked Salmon Scrambled Eggs

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 8 large eggs
• 2-4 Tbsp. milk
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 150g smoked salmon, chopped
• 2-3 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
• 1/2 c. sour cream or crème fra&icric;che
• 1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium-low heat.
2. Beat the eggs with the milk and season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and allow to cook for a minute or two without stirring.
4. Gently stir the eggs and allow to cook until nearly set (another 2-4 minutes).
5. Stir in the smoked salmon and chives and cook for a minute or so longer.
6. Serve topped with sour cream/crème fra&icric;che and lemon zest.

Papad aur Dahi ki Kadhi (Papad and Yogurt Curry)

I have not been great with the meal planning lately. (Or the grocery shopping. Or staying on top of these write-ups.) I needed something quick and easy for dinner the other day. I'd already settled on making a tomato biryani and a spinach and black lentil dal. But I felt like the meal could use one more dish to round it out. And this papad and yogurt curry lookd pleasingly simple to put together.

I was a bit wary as the previous curry that I made that called for adding broken, uncooked, papads was kind of... meh. But this one was actually really nice. TF and I agreed that it was our favourite of the three dishes that night. Sadly the Kidlet didn't like it, but oh well... you can't please 'em all!

Papad aur Kahi ki Kadhi

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. plain yogurt¹
• 1 c. water
• 1 Tbsp. chickpea flour (besan)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 4 slices fresh ginger (5cm x 2cm x 3mm)
• 2 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies, minced
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, 1 tsp. whole, 1 tsp. ground
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground asafetida
• 3-4 uncooked papads (papadums/lentil wafers), broken into bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine the yogurt, water, flour, salt, ginger, and chilies, and mix well.
2. Melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
3. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping.
4. Remove from heat and add the whole cumin, ground cumin, coriander, and asafetida.
5. Allow to sizzle in the hot ghee for a few seconds, then pour in yogurt mixture and return to heat.
6. Add the broken papads and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened (~5 minutes).
7. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

---

¹ The recipe doesn't call for it, but I chose to use Greek yogurt here and I really like how it came out. ^Back

Nariyal Hare Phool Gobhi (Broccoli-Coconut Curry)

I forgot to tweak our produce basket last week, so we ended up with a bunch of surprise veggies, including a head of broccoli. Conveniently, this curry doesn't need much else besides broccoli to go into it. And it made a convenient veggie dish to go along with the leftover spaghetti from the previous day.

Photo goes here.

Nariyal Hare Phool Gobhi

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 450g broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. sambhar masala
• 1 c. water
• 1 c. shredded fresh coconut or 1/2 c. shredded dried coconut, rehydrated

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add cumin seeds and sizzle for 15-30 seconds.
3. Add ginger paste and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
4. Add the broccoli, salt, and sambhar masala and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
5. Add the water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is fork tender (~8 minutes).
6. Add the coconut and cook for another 2-3 minutes.